Wolf Pack Beat Sound Tigers, 4-2

Published on January 14, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


HARTFORD, Conn. _ The Hartford Wolf Pack continued a recent trend on the positive side Wednesday night.

The Wolf Pack had been on a win-loss, win-loss streak for 12 consecutive games, and No. 13 proved lucky when Jordan Owens and Tommy Pyatt scored third-period goals for a 4-2 victory over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers before 2,147 at the XL Center.

Owens broke a 2-2 tie at 2:48 when he took a centering pass from Patrick Rissmiller in the slot and fired a 30-foot shot that went in off the crossbar.

"I saw Rissmiller had the puck so I just went to the open ice and had my gun cocked," Owens said. "Riss has good vision, so I didn't have to yell too loud. I'm quite fond of that area (in the high slot), so if I can get in open ice, they're bound to go in sooner or later. When you shoot the puck, good things can happen."

The Sound Tigers nearly tied it at 10:10 on their third power play, but Miikka Wiikman (34 saves) came out to deny Junior Lessard, acquired Tuesday from Atlanta for defenseman Brett Skinner. Then with 6:40 left, Brodie Dupont's one-timer from the slot on a pass from P.A. Parenteau (one goal, one assist) went off Peter Mannino (26 saves) and trickled past the right post.

But 1:02 later, Pyatt clinched it as he took a pass from Greg Moore in his own zone, raced down right wing and beat Mannino high to the glove side.

"We've been preaching not to turn down shots," Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander said. "We want to have a shooter's mentality, not overpass, and it was nice to see those guys cash in."

The Sound Tigers (24-11-2-2), who beat the Wolf Pack 2-1 Saturday night in Bridgeport, took a 1-0 lead 2:06 into the game when Jesse Joensuu scored on a wraparound after Sean Bentivoglio touched Mark Wotton's dump-in from the right point.

The Wolf Pack nearly tied it on Pyatt's jam-in bid on their first power play but did get even on their second man advantage as Parenteau took a pass from All-Star defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti and beat Mannino between the legs at 13:13.

"I think (Mannino) thought I was passing across, so he was kind of cheating and I got him through the five hole," Parenteau said.

The Wolf Pack (20-16-2-3) took their first lead with 1:34 left in the period as Brodie Dupont jammed in Artem Anisimov's backhander after Parenteau forced former Yale defenseman Joe Callahan to turn over the puck around the right boards.

Mannino kept the Sound Tigers close when he made bang-bang stops on Sanguinetti and Dupont at 4:49 of the second period. Wiikman denied Mike Iggulden alone in front at 6:20, then Mannino stopped Mike Ouellette's rebound bid while sprawled in the crease at 15:15.

The Sound Tigers tied it with 2:49 left in the period when Ben Walter converted a rebound by a wide-open Iggulden, who had been set up in the slot by Joensuu's drop pass.

But the goals by Owens and Pyatt and several key saves by Wiikman enabled the Wolf Pack to improve to 3-3 in the GEICO Connecticut Cup race between the intrastate rivals.

"We were really patient," Parenteau said. "The defense moved the puck pretty good, and we stuck with it. It's important to get the lead against a good team like that, but when it got to 2-2, we didn't panic. That's a big difference from what we've been doing a lot of the time. Now we're trying to get more consistent and cut down the highs and lows, which will be good for the team going forward."

Gernander especially liked the finish.

"We made more mistakes at the start, but toward the end we were good at protecting the lead by getting pucks out and deep to establish a forecheck," Gernander said. "They're a good defensive team that's disciplined, so you have to grind it out and play in the hard areas if you want to get any offense. And Miikka was solid after the first goal, which he'd probably want to have back."

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American Hockey League Stories from January 14, 2009


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